Brown University Professor to Address Evolution

Event Details

SIOUX FALLS, SD – Dr. Kenneth Miller often finds himself on the frontlines where science, particularly evolution, and religion have clashed.

On Monday, April 12, Augustana’s Union Board of Governors (UBG) and the Biology Department host a seminar featuring Dr. Miller, Professor of Biology at Brown University and the author of a widely used high school biology textbook.

Dr. Miller’s talk is titled Darwin, God & Design: America’s Continuing Problem with Evolution. The presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. in Gilbert Science Center (GSC), room 100. The program is free and open to the public. After the talk, a reception and book signing will be held in the GSC 2nd floor pendulum lounge.

His testimony in the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial in Pennsylvania, and other trials, was instrumental in preventing the watering-down of teaching evolution in school classrooms. As a practicing Roman Catholic, Dr. Miller seeks to bridge the gap between science and faith, arguing that the two need not be in conflict.

In describing his talk, Dr. Miller says: “Evidence supporting the theory of evolution is pervasive in all fields of biology, and enables us to place the origin of our species in its proper scientific context. Nonetheless, evolution itself remains controversial, and is widely seen as embracing a philosophical worldview that many Americans find objectionable. As a result, political forces continue to pressure public officials to endorse alternatives to evolution, including “creation science” and “intelligent design.” These forces came into direct conflict with First Amendment principles in a 2005 Federal trial around the teaching of evolution in the schools of Dover, Pennsylvania. I will describe some of the issues addressed in that trial, and will also ask why evolution seems to provoke such contentious responses in so many Americans. Finally, I will argue that the science of Darwinian evolution can be understood in a way that should lead to a reduction in the conflicts between science and religion in society."